A fitting wake for Billy the Kid

Buckeye Blake Bounces Back

He was angry and depressed when the town council in Fort Sumner turned him down for his proposed crypt lid for Billy the Kid’s grave. Thanks to new blood in an old town, his historic sculpture on The Wake of Billy the Kid is now going to happen.

Some 20 years ago, Buckeye Blake wanted to give Billy the Kid a proper graveside crypt, and he went to the powers that be in Fort Sumner who flat turned him down.

And so, angry and sad, Buckeye went home to Texas and destroyed his clay sculpture.

Our cover story in this issue is about how that defeat turned into a win for all of us who love history. Here is the backstory.

After Buckeye struck out with the town council in Old Fort Sumner, he started again, this time with a sponsor. Says Buckeye, “I’ve got to give thanks to Mama Elliott (wife of the late, great Tex Elliot aka El Mustachio). Her heart is in it. She still has a big cattle ranch in Fort Sumner, and she was on the board that made it happen.”

From there, Buckeye pitched the Fort Sumner chamber of commerce. The president of the chamber at the time, Mary Ann Cortese totally got behind the project, and she brought in Mayor Louis Gallegos and the entire city council, who then approached Tim Roberts at the State of New Mexico about collaborating on something that would honor the Kid without opening old controversies.

This led to an interpretive exhibit concept floated by Tim Roberts who brought on his friend Billy Roberts along with Scott Smith and the late Drew Gomber to develop the concept. They, in turn contacted me and I worked with Dan “The Man” Harshberger on creating a courtyard view capturing the moment when the Kid walked across the parade ground, along the picket fence and on the way to his doom.

The city then pursued and won grant money to fund the project. So Buckeye’s old idea has been dusted off and approved. What was dead has been resurrected. That is why we are calling our forthcoming art show “The Resurrection of Billy the Kid.”

Dan Harshberger designed this portico entry montage outside of a simulated Pete Maxwell bedroom to get museum visitors in the mood for Buckeye’s sculpture.